old white mens forgetfullness

animeyfied picture of Andreas Scheuer, 2024

Another personification of the term “memory gap” is the former German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer of the Christian Social Union (CSU). In 2020, he initially managed to keep several meetings with high-ranking company representatives who were supposed to implement his pet project, the introduction of tolls for foreign car drivers on German freeways, secret from parliament. However, these meetings later became relevant because at least at one of these meetings, the industry/business representatives pointed out to him a pending ruling by the European Supreme Court, the outcome of which would make the whole project impossible and a premature start a very unreasonable action. The potential operators unanimously stated in official hearings of the Committee of Inquiry that they had offered the Minister to postpone the decision until after the verdict. However, the minister categorically rejected this, citing the political circumstance that this project had to be tackled before the 2021 Bundestag elections (whatever the cost). It ended as it must in such cases. The contracts worth billions were placed, the ECJ issued a negative ruling shortly afterwards and the contracts had to be annulled. The damages that the contractors were now able to claim from the German state amounted to 243 million euros. And Andreas Scheuer? With the best will in the world, he cannot remember receiving an offer from the companies themselves to postpone the contracts. His top state secretary, who is nicknamed Mr. Maut in the ministry and who was involved in the negotiations, can't remember either. It's funny (not funny) that the contractors remember things credibly and the representatives of the ministry (first and foremost the minister responsible) refer to gaps in their memory. The new twist on amnesia framing: neither of them can rule out that something like this was said, but they can't remember it. I ask myself what to make of political personnel who, as conservative representatives of morality and economic competence, disregard the simplest legal and economic rules of reason for their re-election and then pretend that it is impossible to remember what happened. Incidentally, Andreas Scheuer was able to recall in another interview that he had paid back a private invoice (for the private use of e-scooters, of all things) that was wrongly billed via the ministry. He could remember the exact amount: it was an invoice for EUR 69.90. This minor detail came to light in the context of another committee of inquiry (in this case of the Bavarian state parliament) in which Scheuer played an important role. The expansion of the so-called Stammstrecke 2 was originally supposed to cost 3.8 billion euros, but it later emerged that the costs had already exceeded seven billion and were expected to rise to 14 billion. The transport minister responsible, Mr. Scheuer, cannot remember a warning from the Federal Audit Office. Conclusion: Scheuer's memory fails at 243 million. However, he can remember 69.90 for years.

animeyfied picture of Donald Trump, 2024

One of the grand masters of the memory gap is former US President Donald Trump. During questioning by Special Counsel Robert Mueller (Muller Report), Donald Trump repeatedly hid behind memory gaps. He did this 27 (!) times in total. The questions Muller asked were not factual questions; Muller did not want to know the 20-digit password to Trump's crypto wallet or exactly how osmosis or cell division works. He asked simple questions that were intended to shed light on correlations. For example, Muller asked whether Trump knew that some of his Russian interlocutors held official positions within the Russian state apparatus. The answer is telling: Trump could not remember being aware of this.

Instead of telling the truth, Trump, who always boasts an almost infallible memory, prefers to pathologize two of his “senses” at once. His memory (I can't remember) and his consciousness (I was not aware). For those who – like me – measure Trump against his own statements and reproach him for boasting a world-class memory, Trump has a particularly imaginative answer at the ready. He simply can't remember ever having said that. He said the following: “I mean I don't remember that, okay. As good as my memory is, I don't remember that. But I have a good memory. I don't remember that.”

Animeyfied picture of Olaf Scholz, 2024

In 2022, the journalist Thomas Schmoll ran the headline “Scholz doesn't remember his memories” on ntv, providing the template for a phenomenon that will be discussed monothematically on this blog. I am talking about partial memory loss without medical indication. This memory loss affects 95% of influential men who face charges relating to omissions, mistakes and crooked dealings in the near and distant past. In the case of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, it relates to his statements on the so-called cum-ex scandal during his term of office as Senator of the Interior in Hamburg. Warburg Bank, which was involved in the scandal, benefited massively from a decision in which Scholz was actively involved. This decision cost taxpayers 47 million euros, which the bank did not have to repay. Scholz had always emphasized that he would help with an active investigation. The opposition in Hamburg, however, assumes that Scholz has stood up for the company and is now leading the public around by the nose. Scholz initially denied having met with the head of the bank, but it then emerged that they had met several times. Scholz finally admitted this to the committee of inquiry, but he could not remember what the subject of the meeting was.

This is just an extremely abbreviated account of a much more complex tangle of concessions, revelations and more recent memory lapses, in which the Federal Chancellor cuts a sorry figure.

How can it be that the current chancellor, in the face of serious accusations, has one memory lapse after another and that this is not held against him by the voters as grounds for dismissal? Who wants to be governed by a chancellor who cannot remember what he discussed with one of the most powerful private bankers in the Republic?

The chancellor's loss of memory is an admission of a mistake for which he could also make himself honest and ensure that such behavior becomes impossible in the future.